Wednesday, December 14, 2011

David Oistrakh: Sibelius Violin Concerto

David Oistrakh performs from the third movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, opus 47, with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting, in February 1966.
Jean Sibelius [1865-1957], the Finnish composer, completed the piece in 1904.

*********************************

This was the only concerto that Jean Sibelius wrote. Originally dedicated to Willy Burmeister, it had an early history of failure. The violinist to whom the work was dedicated never performed it, which might have contributed to its initial poor public reception, notes one Sibelius reviewer:

Sibelius had arranged for the former leader of the Helsinki Orchestra
and then renowned virtuoso Willy Burmeister to premiere the concerto in
March 1904. Burmeister followed the progress of the work attentively,
showing much interest and confidence in its musical value. But Sibelius,
broke as usual, was forced to hold the premiere concert one month
before the aforementioned date, just to get some cash to tide over. But
perhaps, as a big name, Burmeister would probably have attracted more
attention and therefore more ticket sales. But he was unavailable to
travel to Finland. So the soloist chosen was Viktor Novácek, professor of violin at the Helsinki Musical Academy.

To put it mildly, the premiere was a disaster, and Sibelius revised the work. Burmeister was once
again unavailable. The new version premiered with Karel Halíř
as violinist with the Berlin Court Orchestra in Berlin, Germany, Richard
Strauss conducting, in October 13, 1905. Burmeister was greatly offended, and swore never to
play the concerto. He never did. Sibelius red-dedicated the work to Ferenc von Vecsey, a Hungarian violinist who was 12. He championed the work, first performing it when he was 13.

A notable recording is by Jascha Heifetz with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Walter Hendl conducting, in 1935. You can also hear Heifetz here from the third movement with the New York Philharmonic, Dmitri Mitropoulos conducting, in a 1951 performance. As much as I enjoy Heifetz, I prefer David Oistrakh's expressive interpretation, in keeping with the Romantic tradition.

No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments ought to reflect the post in question. All comments are moderated; and inappropriate comments, including those that attack persons, those that use profanity and those that are hateful, will not be tolerated. So, keep it on target, clean and thoughtful. This is not a forum for personal vendettas or to create a toxic environment. The chief idea is to engage, to discuss and to critique issues. Doing so within acceptable norms will make the process more rewarding and healthy for everyone.﻿ Accordingly, anonymous comments will not be posted.

Copyscape

Total Pageviews (since 2010)

Yiddish Sites (listed since August 2017)

The Internet has dozens of sites dedicated to Yiddish language, culture and music. Here are some that I have found noteworthy. I will add to the list regularly. If you have a Yiddish site or know of one, please contact me:

Yiddish Book Center, dedicated to rescuing, translating, and disseminating Yiddish books and presenting innovative educational programs that broaden understanding of modern Jewish identity;

Yiddishkayt, a site based in Los Angeles that believes that yiddishkayt—the culture, language, art, and worldviews of Eastern European Jews, as they lived in Europe and in the places they settled—has a crucial role to play in our world today;

Yiddish Playscripts, a resource of the U.S. Library of Congress that contains 77 unpublished manuscripts of Yiddish theatre;

Yiddish Poetry, Yiddish poetry with translations in several languages; based in Melbourne, Australia;